Hiring a Cheap Builder Can Be Costly

It may sound like an oxymoron, but in reality hiring a cheap builder has its costly consequences. If you are like one of the homeowners who look for cheap builders for their building construction, loft conversions, home extension, kitchen and bathroom remodelling, basement waterproofing and other building projects, you probably do not know that a cheap package comes with a huge sacrifice that is more costly than the price of the cheap builder.

As experienced Essex Builders, we have in the past been hired by clients to correct poor workmanship, and it has been extremely costly. Many homeowners have had to endure huge losses as a result of hiring a cheap builder.

This article aims to uncover the expensiveness of using cheap builders for your projects. By the time you finish reading this write-up, you would have discovered the possible risks you are prone to when you intend to employ a cheap builder.

Here are some of the possible results of hiring a cheap builder:

1. Poor Workmanship

Getting high-quality job requires the use of professionals who are specialists with in-depth knowledge and experience in handling your kind of job or similar jobs, and this does not come at a low price.

Cheap builders use inexperienced and unqualified freelancers who just have superficial ideas about the work. The result is a poorly done job such as cracks in the walls, uneven seams, improper installation of fittings, poorly cast concrete and leaking plumbing.

Most of these poor works are already too late to correct. As a result, they would be demolished and be done all over again.

2. Usage of Low-quality and Substandard Materials

How else do you expect a cheap builder to make money? From the small price you paid? Certainly No! One major way to make more money is to use sub-standard and low-quality materials for your project. The impacts of low-quality materials are not concealed as they range from failure to perform, inefficiency, the lack of structural integrity, the risk of the building collapsing altogether and lots more.

You can imagine what it would feel like when cement plaster start falling off from the wall, or low-quality drywalls that high potential health consequences.

3. Shortcuts to Complete the Project Quickly

Cheap builders do not care about you, your safety or your investment; all they need is your money. They try as much as possible to cut corners use shortcuts and bypass the standard procedures and building codes in order to finish the job quickly and find another prey. Doing this has a lot of implications on your home’s structural integrity as the builder would not allow concrete to cure properly before continuing constructing on it and would not execute the project properly. You would probably see nail pops, uneven seams, uneven surfaces, flooring that is not plumb and much more.

4. Lack of Attention, Shoddy Results

Cheap builders rarely have time to look into the detailed description of the project or scope of work or supervise the progress of the work. The result of this? Shoddy results as shown by:

1. spaces between walls and installed fittings such as frames windows, doors and cabinets

2. leaks in the structure’s façade

3. improperly installed concrete foundations or slabs

4. problems with wood floors

5. structural defects

5. Financial Loss

Homeowners who hire a cheap builder risk losing their hard-earned money. The loss is usually huge as it involves the fees paid to the builder, the cost of materials, cost of demolishing the shoddy work, the cost of repairs, and the inestimable cost of emotional trauma experienced. And hopefully the structure built does not collapse on anyone – that would be a huge problem resulting from the decision to cut cost.

6. Risk of On-the-job Accidents

Obviously, cheap builders do not carry proper insurance for their workers. You would be responsible for any workers. You would be responsible for any worker that gets injured on-site. You will foot the medical bill and even lost wages for the injured worker until he recovers fully and resumes work.

Besides, if an unlicensed worker breaks a sewer line, your standard homeowner’s insurance or landlord liability insurance will not cover for this accident; you would be responsible for the repair expenses as the homeowner’s insurance policies exclude damages caused by unlicensed contractors.

7. Grand Loss of Claims

Cheap builders usually ask homeowners to get the required permits and deal with necessary inspections or offer to do the work without the required permits. If something goes wrong in the future-say the building collapse or there is fire accident-and the insurance company decides that the work was done without the proper permits and deny your claims. What a great loss!

Considering the points above, you would realize that hiring a cheap builder is more costly even though you may not realise the implications immediately. Hiring the right builder gives you peace of mind not only regarding the work quality but also the unforeseen events. Contact Essex Builders for your project and experience peace of mind and high-quality work that guarantees performance, durability and value for money.